Warning: That 'simple' flange alignment on a 40-year-old boiler in Toledo took me 3 hours

Everyone says to just heat and beat it, but the old steel was so brittle from years of thermal cycling that it kept cracking near the bolt holes. I had to cut out a small section, weld in a new patch, and then re-drill everything by hand. What should have been a 45-minute job turned into a half-day project. Has anyone else had to deal with this kind of fatigue on pre-90s units?

3 comments

3 Comments

jenkins.spencer2mo ago

Oh man, "45-minute job turned into a half-day project" is the official motto of working on old gear. It's like the metal just decides to crumble if you look at it wrong. You go in with a wrench and a plan, and you leave having performed full surgery with a grinder. Classic.

spencer7072mo ago

@jenkins.spencer That's just how everything breaks now.

hannahs711mo ago

Oh man, you nailed it. I tried swapping out a water heater last month and the damn thing had basically fused itself to the floor over 20 years. Ended up having to cut the whole base out with a sawzall and it still took another two hours to get the old one out. Idk who decided that rust and time should be the strongest bonding agents on earth, but they were wrong. It's like every old project comes with a free side of frustration and a trip to the hardware store. Classic indeed.